The O.J Simpson case and it's aftermath.

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There is a program, just finishing on BBC2, called the "People V O.J Simpson". It is about the sensational 1995 trial of O.J Simpson for the murders of his ex second Wife, Nicole Brown, and her boyfriend Ron Goldman. This case was a huge media event in 1995. The not guilty verdict of Simpson was startling to say the least. The case against him was clear cut: with a huge amount of DNA, blood and hair evidence.
Unfortunately for the Prosecution the trial took place against the backdrop of racial tensions in the Los Angeles Police dept and after the Rodney King riots also.
Simpson's lawyers, the so called Dream team- used the race card and poor supervision of the trial by Judge Lance Ito to sway the largely black jury, 10 out of 12 jurors being black.

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It's clear from the series that the jury was polarised along racial lines. It was almost entirely a Black jury, and in the polarised atmosphere post Rodney King such a jury were always going to be hard to persuade. Mark Fuhrmans racism made the decision to call him as a witness a virtual suicide mission for the case to convict OJ.

However he later lost a civil case and was fined 33 million compensation to the families of which he has paid only a few hundred thousand. I think he's guilty because of his history of domestic violence against Nicolle eg in 1985. There is also plenty of blood evidence, and then there was the car chase. Why run if you're innocent?

I have some niggling doubts stemming from Fuhrmans pleading the Fifth when asked had he planted evidence. The jury were not allowed to hear this but it would have confirmed their not guilty decision. Plus the LAPD were notoriously racist in the early 1990s.

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There is no doubt that O.J Simpson was the killer. His hair, blood and fingerprints were found at the scene. The victims blood was found in his car- the famous Bronco. And also in his bedroom. His bloody footprints were found at the scene, at his house, his garden, up his stairs and into his bedroom. Finally there was previous domestic violence towards Nicole Simpson Brown.
Only redeeming point- if you like- was that his ex wife was meeting with her new boyfriend Ron Goldman. So that probably infuriated Simpson and drove him berserk.
I remember the trial, it was a real circus.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_murder_case

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The problem was the jury. It was a mainly black jury who thought that freeing a black man who murdered two white people sent out some sort of an anti-establishment message. The jury were a disgrace who didn't care about getting justice for the victims and their families.

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The glove was a tight fit on O.J's large hands. But as has been said the trial and jury were "Downtown" L.A. In a largely Black / Latino area. That is where the jury were picked from. Most had barely made it out of high school. The trial could have been held in more up market (and white) Santa Monica. But the D.A decided to hold the trial downtown.

Nah... I was working in the States at the time in a racially mixed work place.

And you could have cut the tension with a knife on verdict day... with most of the African Americans whooping and cheering and high fiving each other while everyone else was just baffled at the decision...

The real shame of it was that it was cynically turned into a trial about everything other than the actual crimes... race, crooked police force... Furhman etc. etc. while the victims were largely forgotten in the media orgy... and then of course there was the sh!te judge Ito who failed miserably to conduct the case appropriately...

But even with all those things the evidence was overwhelming... and yet OJ got off... and double jeopardy meant he'd be off forever... except for the fact that he did that hold up some years later and had the book thrown at him for it...

The entire circus was and remains a shameful stain on the American justice system... imo.